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Yet, I have to wonder if there is something that we can do to help make this shallow ground more productive for the kingdom.
Is there anything we can do to improve the soil condition?
What are some potential remedies for shallow faith this is decimated, defeated and ultimately deserted?
If you’ve never had the opportunity to travel to Europe, you’ve seen them on TV and movies … those quaint country roads lined with miles of stone walls. These walls, which also divided fields, and lined drives would account for thousands upon thousands of stones. I thought to wonder, “where did all of these stones come from?”
Unlike us, these rocks weren’t hauled in for landscape purposes. These rock walls were formed as fields were cleared to make them more useful for farming. As rocks were pulled from the field they were stacked along the edges of the property where eventually the walls would take shape.
As sowers, we need to help remove the rocks so that the shallow can develop deeper roots that will be able to sustain their faith.
How shall we do that?
First, Teach for depth. We should teach, teach, teach … but we also need to be aware of what and how we are teaching.
Over the last two to three decades, the teaching practices of the church have changed. And it has not all been for the good. While some of the teaching prior to and into the 1980’s might have been good, solid theology but with little real life application, the preaching of the last couple of decades may be described in opposite terms … it is highly practical, but the depth of truth might be missing.
We have done a good job of preaching the imperative, the “how tos”:
Six Paths to Financial Peace;
Four Strategies to Defeat Emotional Insecurity;
Three Habits of Lasting Friendships;
Seven Steps to Have A Better Family by Friday;
Three Ways to Control Your Temper;
Two Keys To Racial Reconciliation.
In our effort to be practical, have we lost the reason, the why, for these imperatives … and in losing the reason for the imperative have we become just another social development organization.
When we water down the teaching of the church to steps, or life strategies, or imperatives to achieve, we encourage shallow faith.
We should never disconnect the imperative from the indicative. While the imperative tells us what to do, the indicative gives us the truth which should motivate us. We should never unhitch the command for action from the content of truth.
Both need to be taught in relation to one another:
Why should I strive for financial peace? Because God has made me a steward of His resources.
Why should I seek emotional security? Because we are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, and God wants us to know our worth.
Why should I want a better home? Because the home is a model for the relationship with God and his people, and it is the first place where we are usually introduced to Christ.
Why should events like recently occurred at Charlottesville disturb us? Because God created all people in his image, and the walls of hostility between races was knocked down by Christ. It is shallow Biblical knowledge that allows someone to distort a book which teaches the unity of all ethnic groups as joint heirs in the promises of God into a theology of white supremacy.
We need to teach for depth. But here is the second thing that we can to do clear the ground.
We must develop relationships with the shallow before the trials come.
Those relationships will help the shallow grow deeper roots in two ways:
Developing relationships of mutual accountability will help them confront the testing of temptation. As we walk with one another, calling out the sin, calling each other to repentance, it invites a return to faith, and a deeper walk. For each other’s own good, we can’t be too afraid to confront one another in our sins, but that requires relationship. Will having a relationship mean that confrontation won’t hurt the relationship? No, but shall we choose the opposite, letting our friend wander into sin because we don’t want to wound our friendship?
We help to remove the rocks by identifying the stones of sin that need to be cleared from the field, and in relationships of accountability help to move those sins and temptations to the edges.
— Pastor Steve
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